Pointer vs. Reference?

Question

What would be better practice when giving a function the original variable to work with: unsigned long x = 4; void func1(unsigned long& val) { val = 5; } func1(x); or: void func2(unsigned long* val) { *val = 5; } func2(&x); IOW: Is there any reason to pick one over another?

Answer 1

Its usually best to use the former. Where you use the "&" to signify a pass by reference. The "&" is actually just a pointer under the hood. However, in C and C++ the "&" is designed to have safe guards in place so that this "under the hood pointer" doesn't point to non sense data values which could negatively impact the program.So I would say use "&" because it is safer, but they both get the job done. Happy to help. :)